Volume 1 Chapter 2: When the World Says NO to You
Before Su'er embarked on her hapless adventure on Loran Island, she always felt that God was fair to her.
Just like the mental patients always think that they are normal people, in this world, the villains often swagger around under the banner of justice, and the real monsters, such as a Dragonfly Girl, always feel that it is perfectly natural that she can exist in the world without any misery.
Being taken away by dragonflies, dissolving, hatching, raising, training -- when Su'er talks about these creepy topics, it's like talking about her childhood experiences, neither afraid nor taboo. On the contrary, it's like the "pride" of an explorer who shows off his glorious deeds.
But before that, yes, Su'er's childhood… was not so interesting compared with the story after she was caught by a dragonfly, but it was worth mentioning.
It should be about 20 years ago, in the autumn between New Style 230 and New Style 233, Su'er was born in a Chenai village in the border highland. At that time, the border highland was still a colony of the old empire. Due to the geographical location was too far away from the mainland and the small population, the colony had been living and dying out of the eyes of the Empire elders.
Let's call the remote place where Su'er was born "tragedy village". As for why there is no official name, let's explain it later.
Compared with the increasingly tense international situation, it is obviously very difficult for this "tragedy village" to occupy a place in the newspaper. In addition to the drought once every three years and the flood once every five years, the occasional appearance of dragonflies is also an important reason for the tragedy village to refuse tourists. In the beginning, some explorers and even monster hunters came here, but after they died one by one for various reasons, the tragedy village really became a dead corner on the map.
In the spring of New Style 244, the supreme command of the old empire decided to recover the vast colonies occupied by Dragonflies between the border highlands and the Could Wall. This is probably the only military action of the old empire recognized by other countries.
Due to poor transportation and poor infrastructure, preparations continued until the autumn of the next year, when the army began to build the first modern steam turret fortress on the edge of the border highlands - the "Overwatch Barrier" that has not been completed to this day.
Soon, a Dragonfly Girl loyal to Mother Queen Timo came to the construction site, accompanied by three royal guards and 15 dragonflies… The steamships of the old empire did not shoot them down. Instead, they started negotiations under the direction of the governor.
It is said that this Dragonfly girl, like Nana, who declared war on the civilized world on behalf of all the Insect Fortresses 50 years ago, looked like a beautiful girl. She had very beautiful long black hair and spoke very fluent Nayimei language. She raised her hands and feet, smiled and frowned with the arrogance and elegance of a beautiful monster - Dragonfly Girl.
"Withdraw, or become food." ——To sum up, she only expressed such a meaning in the three-and-a-half-hour meeting. But for the complacent old empire, the threat from a mere Insect Fortress was like an empty joke, which was never taken seriously.
In this case, we have to say that the wise and powerful supreme command of the old empire made two mistakes.
First, they didn't know the actual scale of Timo Insect Fortress, let alone the fact that the Timo swarm is the largest Dragonfly clan that has crossed the cloud wall to invade the civilized world.
Second, they miscalculated the life span of the emperor.
Elo III passed away in the winter of New Style 244 - it might be more appropriate to use the word "driving away" out of respect. Having no children, his nephew succeeded to the throne, the infamous Elo IV.
The international situation, which was already in dire danger, took a turn for the worse, and the old empire's territorial claim to the eastern colonies gradually became unacceptable. Therefore, under the circumstance that both sides had planned for a long time, the war between the old empire and the southern Demer Union began. At that time, Temple Island had not yet made its stand, and speculators such as the Northern Kingdom had not yet joined in. The conflict between the spring of New Style 245 and the summer of New Style 246 could not be called the "Iron and Steel Jihad"… but that doesn't matter. Let's turn our eyes back to the tragedy village.
Because of the war, the border highlands were abandoned by the old empire in essence. Only a 40 man guard team and a small flying boat were kept in the governor city.
On the other hand, in order to retaliate for the provocation of the civilized world, Timo Insect Fortress organized an astonishing army, preparing to make a mess of the border highlands.
At this time, the tragedy village was experiencing the most serious drought in history. In order to support themselves and her two brothers, her impoverished parents chose to sell the slim but pretty Su'er to the traveling peddler - not because of the preference for boys, but because of the peddler. After seeing the price offered by the peddler, They found that Su'er's price was higher than the other four combined.
So, inspired by the phrase "I'll save you back" from his childhood sweetheart, Su'er and the peddler set out for governor city. After spending twice as much on food and clothes, the peddler sold Su'er to the most famous "special hotel" in governor city. Due to long-term malnutrition, Su'er's figure is difficult to make normal men have normal desires. Considering that she is outstanding in appearance and a virgin at the same time, the boss decided to feed her for a period of time, and then teach her to sing and dance, hoping to sell her for a better price in the near future.
But even such a life didn't last for a few days. After occupying the Overwatch Barrier, the dragonfly army went straight to the governor's city and destroyed the town with a population of 30000. Of course, most of the residents were captured, and only a few people with knives and guns or drinking too much were killed on the spot.
Then, the gorgeous dragonfly girl with waterfall-like black hair fell from the sky, broke the window of the brothel, and stood in front of Su'er and a group of sluts.
Obviously, Timo Insect Fortress, who is familiar with the civilized world, knows where to find the raw materials for making Dragonfly girls - unlike the rumor that dragonflies only need virgins, it doesn't matter whether they are virgins or not.
So, under the threat of the Dragonfly Girl's "resistance will surely die", Su'er and the prisoners boarded the dragonfly's nest ship and went to Timo Insect Fortress a hundred miles away. As for Su'er's mood at that time, she never mentioned it, but as you can imagine, it would be quite scared.
In the Insect Fortress, the Dragonfly Girl offers Su'er and all young girls three choices:
First, they became slaves and grew mushrooms in the concentration camp to provide food for dragonflies.
Second, to become food for dragonflies.
Third, to become a Dragonfly Girl like her, fighting for the glory of Mother Queen Timo.
Many of the rescued slaves will describe their miserable experiences in the Insect Fortress, but from a certain point of view, compared with the violence among humans in the civilized world, dragonflies are more humane - in any case, as long as you work at ease, you don't have to worry about being killed for no reason, and planting mushrooms, in fact, is not burdensome labor.
Of course, it is quite risky to work near the Insect Fortress. If you are found to be lazy, you will be taken away immediately and dragonflies would use the sticky digestive juice to turn you into food on the spot.
In the face of the three choices, almost all girls choose to become slaves - they didn't choose the second because of the desire to survive, they didn't choose the third because of the fear of "becoming a monster"… and according to the rumor, the process is quite painful and terrible.
Seeing that no one signed up, the black-haired Dragonfly girl began her eloquent promotion - most of the advantages of becoming a Dragonfly Girl are well known, such as amazing beauty, keeping young forever, having two pairs of "gorgeous" wings and a pair of gills, can quickly recover from fatal injuries, can fly like a dragonfly, can use "Insect Roar" like a royal guard, can secrete digestive juice, can roll in the mud, can use the root of the wings to simulate the sound of burping…
So, driven by a certain psychology of being unable to verify, Su'er was the first to raise her hand. From that moment, with this simple action, she gave up her nationality of the old empire and her right to be a human being.
"Well, it's already such a life anyway…"
Very occasionally, when Su'er mentioned that memory, she would look up with a faint smile, murmuring similar words.